An image, uploaded to the app Figure 1, shows a man who has polydactyly, which affects one in every 500 births. This is referred to as a nubbin, says Dr Anand Saggar, a senior genetic consultant at St George’s Hospital, London

Did you immediately spot what was wrong with this picture? If you didn’t, count the fingers.

This image was posted on Figure 1, an app and website where healthcare staff around the world share medical images and canvass their colleagues’ opinions.

The doctor who posted the picture said all the man’s fingers worked normally — he also had an extra toe on each foot.

Having an extra digit is known as polydactyly and it’s far from rare, affecting one in every 500 births. Sometimes, it is only skin.

This is referred to as a nubbin, says Dr Anand Saggar, a senior genetic consultant at St George’s Hospital, London, and the International Gene Clinic in Harley Street.

A nubbin is usually removed in infancy in much the same way that skin tags are treated — by tying a ligature around it to cut off the blood supply so it dies and falls off.

The actress Gemma Arterton, 31, was born with an extra digit on each hand; the doctor who delivered her simply tied round them and they later fell off, leaving only small scars.

She described it as ‘my little oddity that I’m really proud of. People are really interested, but repulsed at the same time’.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

If extra fingers or toes are fully formed and have all the normal tissues — such as bone, muscles, blood vessels and nerves — a decision to remove them is generally taken for cosmetic reasons, and surgery would be needed. ‘If it’s fully functional, there may be no need to remove it,’ says Dr Saggar.

The man whose hands are seen here wasn’t actually a patient, but the father of a girl the doctor (who works in a U.S. hospital) was treating for abdominal pain.

The doctor had been surprised to see such a rare example of fully developed polydactyly, especially in an adult.

The actress Gemma Arterton, 31, was born with an extra digit on each hand; the doctor who delivered her simply tied round them and they later fell off, leaving only small scars

Polydactyly can occur for a number of reasons. A genetic condition called Greig’s, for instance, often leads to physical abnormalities affecting the fingers and toes, causing, for example, an extra digit.

Or it can be inherited. If you have it, there is a 50 per cent chance your offspring will get it, too. But it can happen spontaneously, without anyone else in the family being affected.

‘What we do know is it’s a more common condition in Africans — Nigerians in particular,’ says Dr Saggar. ‘In terms of numbers, it’s ten times more common in these groups.’